NCIS: The Johnson Case
by Commmander Nash
Summary: Special Agents Dwayne Wilson and Conrad Zuse are assigned to an interagency task force. Soon, they find themselves in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse...
1. Opening Move

(NCIS Headquarters – Squad Room – 2017.02.13, 0700)

Special Agent Conrad Zuse walked into the squad room and took a deep breath. It had been years since he had been to headquarters. Back in 2010, he had been an intern at NCIS. He had not been very interested in law enforcement, until following a case had turned him around. He had gone through Federal Law Enforcement Training and then been posted to the Middle East. (To be specific, he had ended up in Pakistan Office.) Now, that felt like ages ago. His eyes wandered around the room and he spotted Agent Timothy McGee. McGee and the rest of Gibbs' team were discussing a case – the murder of a sailor from what he had heard through the grapevine – so he did not notice Conrad as he walked by.

"Special Agent Zuse." A male voice said. "Welcome to Headquarters."

The voice was that of Director Leon Vance. The director was the reason Conrad was here. He had called Conrad in, but had not said why. His hunch was that the director wanted to discuss something classified. ~Only time will tell.~ Conrad shook the director's hand and grinned.

"Thank you, Director. So, what is this about ?"

"I'll explain in MTAC."

Conrad followed Vance up the stairs and into MTAC. When they entered, there were two agents already there. Conrad recognized one of them as Dwayne Wilson. Wilson was assigned to the Crete field office. At least, he had been two weeks ago. The other agent was unfamiliar to him. She was female, with piercing blue eyes and short brown hair. Her skin was Caucasian.

"Agent Zuse, meet Agent Wilson and Agent Walters."

"Hello." They shook hands. "So, the director ordered you here as well ?"

"Yes." Wilson began. "I came from Crete and Vanessa came from Hawaii." He turned to Vance. "But neither of us were told why."

"That's about to change." Vance said, while turning to one of the technicians and giving him a nod. The man worked his console and the main screen changed. "Andrew Johnson." Johnson was a Caucasian male with green eyes and grey hair. Conrad estimated him to be in his fifties. "Up and coming weapons dealer." The screen changed, showing three more pictures. "These are three of his lieutenants. Paul Anders, Devon Thomas and Jessica Newton. All three are now in jail."

Conrad looked at picture of Devon Thomas and bit his lower lip. He had managed to arrest Thomas after the murder of a marine and two prostitutes. His guess was that the other two agents had put the other lieutenants away. He looked at them and his guess confirmed by the look on their faces.

"So now you want to go after the big fish himself, sir ?" Walters said.

"That's the plan." Vance began. "The FBI caught two of his lieutenants as well, and the NSA arrested two more. So we're putting together a joined task force. You're our contribution."

"Who will have the lead, sir ?" Wilson said.

"FBI." Vance said. "Johnson uses a sea container manufacturing plant as a front. It's headquartered in Toronto. Ironically, having the FBI in the lead will raise the least red flags and the least red tape." He paused. "Special Agent Hayes is expecting you at 0800 tomorrow. I want you to use today to learn everything you can about Johnson. That's all."

Conrad nodded and walked out of MTAC. This whole thing was feeling like the start of a high stakes chess game. And if they were going to win, they would need every trick in the book. And some probably some off-the-books tricks as well. Which he figured Vance knew as well. And that was why the director had ordered them to spend the day doing their homework. It was his opening move.

(NCIS Headquarters – Squad Room - 2017.02.13, 1132)

Conrad leaned back and pondered what he had just read. Andrew Johnson had been born in Cape Town, South Africa on 14 June 1960 as Andre Janssen. There, he had fallen off the radar in 1978. Whatever he had done for the next couple of years, it had probably not been pretty. Because he had resurfaced as Andrew Johnson in 1985. And he had done so in the middle of Iraq. After some shady chess games with (and against) the CIA, he had left for Vietnam. It was there that he had founded Johnson Containers Inc.

From what little the CIA and NSA had managed to puzzle together, it had been a shady company from day one. Tax evasion, strong arms tactics….and tons of other dirty tricks. And the bulk of it hidden behind Non-Disclosure Agreements. But over the years, the Intel community had managed to piece together enough to know that this was a company to watch. And it was not just America who watched him. There was information from MI6, the AIVD and FSB in the file. And that meant that the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Russia were also watching him.

The company – and Johnson – had moved to Canada in 1995. And while he was not on the radar of the national police there, the Toronto Police Department was watching him like a hawk. ~One wrong move and they will come down on him like a ton of bricks.~ He just hoped that it would not blow up in their faces before they could make their move.

~This is not going to be easy.~ Johnson was a sharp cookie. Besides the legal walls, he also used anonymity as a weapon. The file on Devon Thomas had been only half a page when Conrad had begun his investigation into the man. He had managed to put the man in jail, but had added only two paragraphs to his history. And the files on Paul Anders and Jessica Newton were equally thin. ~The game is afoot.~ So he grabbed the files on the lieutenants the other agencies had arrested and began reading.

(Washington FBI Office – Entrance – 2017.02.14, 0800)

They arrived on time. Special Agent Peter Hayes was waiting for them. Hayes was in his sixties. His short hair was black and his green eyes were sharp and clear. The lower half of his face was covered in a (short) salt-and-pepper beard. The man also appeared to be in excellent psychical shape. He smiled at them.

"Welcome to the FBI." He began. "I'm Peter Hayes."

"I'm Conrad Zuse." Zuse began. "This are Dwayne Wilson and Victoria Walters."

"Nice to meet you." They all shook hands. "Let's get to work, shall we ?"

"Sounds like a plan to me." Walters said.

They headed into the building.


	2. Counter

(Washington – Car – 04.19.2017, 0730)

Wilson was driving, while Zuse was digging through a folder. Several days into the case, Zuse had been able to get a new, bigger apartment. It turned out the place was only three streets away from Wilson's house, so the two of them had decided to carpool. This was how Conrad had met Wilson's wife Maria. Honestly, he had expected her to be Hispanic. But Maria Wilson had turned out to be very different from the picture he had in his head. She had a blond hair in a pixie cut above green eyes that took in the world with uncloaked curiosity. Her skin was Caucasian. Zuse had also been surprised to learn that Maria had been born in the Russian town of Archangel, because there was not even the faintest trace of an accent.

But the greatest surprise had been her job. His first guess had been fitness instructor, but it turned out she was employed by the Bureau of Prisons as a ranking guard in a local women's prison. (He had forgotten the name of the place.) The Wilson Family was completed by two children, Emile and Anita. Anita was three and had been named after Dwayne's mother. Emile was seven and his name had a bit of history. Before Dwayne's father – Pedro – had met Anita senior, he had been accused of murder. Everybody had him figured for the act, except for NCIS Special Agent Emile Mackenzie.

Mackenzie had continued to investigate – even after his superior had told him to stop – and had ended up clearing Pedro Wilson. (He had also managed to put the real killer in jail.) Wilson had been inspired by Mackenzie to join NCIS. And when his first child had turned out to be a boy, he had been named after Mackenzie. (Of course, if they ever had a second boy, he would be called Pedro.)

Suddenly, Wilson threw the car into a wild swerve, breaking Zuse's concentration. He looked around and realized that Wilson had dodged an ice cream truck that wasn't exactly driving safely. The truck had come out of a side street all of sudden, forcing Wilson to make a quick move to keep from colliding with it. As the car returned to its proper lane, Zuse realized that whoever was driving the truck was really, really drunk. But neither he or Wilson got the chance to actually say it. The truck barreled through a red light. This put it straight in front of a school bus. Its driver slammed on the brakes, but to no avail. The bus rammed the ice cream truck. It then swung wildly to the left. Wilson managed to avoid hitting it. The next two cars were not so lucky.

"Go !" Wilson said, but Zuse was already halfway out the car.

Wilson grabbed his cell and dialed 911. The Johnson case would have to wait.

(Washington – FBI Field Office – 04.19.2017, 0803)

Peter Hayes closed his old fashioned flip phone and sighed. Wilson and Zuse would get into the office much later. There had been an accident and they were helping out. ~Not that it will matter.~ It had been two months since the Joined Task Force had gotten started and their progress was…zero. Despite everybody working his butt off…despite the fact that they had followed up on every clue, no matter how small….they had gotten nowhere. ~Blasted man.~ At the moment, he wanted to strangle Johnson's blasted team of lawyers. If not for them, the man would have had a much harder time hiding his activities. He walked to the window and looked out at the city. It had been a bit of work, but had managed to get them an office at the outside of the building. He hated working in some windowless cubicle inside the place. It was the last thought Peter Hayes had. A heartbeat later, three rocket propelled grenades struck the room.

(NCIS Headquarters – Director's Office – 04.21.2017, 0700)

Dwayne Wilson still couldn't believe what had happened. It had taken about an hour before they could leave the site of the accident. When they had left, the rescue operation had been in full swing. They had wanted to stay, but Director Vance had called and ordered them to the FBI Field Office. The order had perplexed him, until he had seen what had happened. The room where they had been working on the Johnson case had been reduced to a pile of ashes. But that was not the worst.

The entire team – including Hayes and Walters – was dead. ~One NCIS agent, four FBI agents and three NSA agents….gone.~ The rest of that day and yesterday had been spent picking up the pieces. The bulk of the papers and computer records on the case had been destroyed. And there was no psychical evidence in the case yet. But some of the pieces had survived. There was the folder Zuse had been reading just before the accident.

It was on a company called Foreman Industries. Headquartered in Hawaii, it was supposed to be the company that did the maintenance on the Johnson Inc containers. But did it ? Or was it part of Johnson's network ? Zuse had taken the paperwork on the company home to do further reading on it. (The folder had been too thick to finish reading in the office.) Beyond this, there were also a few files which had been backed up on the local server. All of this had been overshadowed by the autopsies and the preparations for the funerals. They were scheduled to take place on Sunday. But today was Friday and there was still work to be done.

He and Zuse were currently sitting at the conference table in Vance's office, waiting for the Director. The door opened and Vance came in, followed by Tobias Fornell and Stanley 'Stan' Burley. Fornell was a Supervisory Special Agent in the FBI, while Stanley Burley was a former member of Gibbs' team. Last he had heard, Burley had been in South Sudan. ~They pulled him back to HQ. This is not going to be pretty.~ Fornell and Burley sat down at the table, while Vance grabbed a remote from his desk. As he did so, Special Agent Nikki Jardine entered. ~Didn't she retire ?~

The story he had heard had been that Nikki had a brother called Eric. He had been a marine, who had gotten injured in the line of duty. This had left him in a coma. Until he had passed away in 2010. That was much was certain. After that, it was just scuttlebutt. Some said she had suffered a nervous breakdown. Others claimed she had been reassigned to the European Field Office. But the most sturdy buzz was that she had retired after that. Before he could ponder it further, Vance spoke up.

"Special Agent Wilson, Zuse, I believe you know Agent Fornell from the FBI." He nodded towards Jardine and Burley. "And Agents Burley and Jardine. Now, Agent Fornell…."

Fornell got to his feet, while allowing Jardine to take his chair. Vance handed the remote to Fornell, then sat behind his desk. (There were only four chairs at the conference table.) Fornell turned to a large television mounted on the wall and worked the remote. The image of man appeared on the television.

"We are working on rebuilding the data that was lost during the attack…." He began. "In the meantime, both the CIA and the NSA have been digging into Foreman Industries. This…" He gestured towards the screen. "….is the Director of the company. His name is Remus DeSalle. So far, we have no luck in connecting him or the company to Johnson."

"It's your job to do something about that." Vance said. "Agent Burley will take the lead."

"What all due respect, sir…" Jardine said. "….shouldn't we be working on the attack ?"

"No." Vance said, his tone making it clear that this was not open for debate. "You are too close to this. And this is not open for debate. Agent Fornell is putting together a team to investigate that part of this case. You are all to steer clear of that work, that's an order. Am I clear ?"

There was a tense moment of silence. Then Vance nodded and Fornell continued. "The FBI, NSA and CIA each have a team on this as well. We are setting up a heavily encrypted network to allow for instant communication. But for security reasons the teams are forbidden from meeting in person."

"Agent Fornell will lead the FBI part of this investigation." Vance said. "As part of the security measures, we're also moving the teams to cities other then where they normally operate. Pack your bags, you're all expected at Andrews at 1200 Hours. You're heading to New Orleans. Agent Pride and his team will available for back-up. Also, we're hoping that having two teams in the same time town will confuse anybody trying to listen in. Get to it."

Wilson got to his feet and walked out. The next phase had begun. And he would do his utmost best to make sure that it ended with Johnson having to pay the price for what he had done to the team.


End file.
